Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Ch 12 :levels of devotion - pt1

In this particular chapter we see Bhagwan Krishna at his benevolent best,coming down to the level of even the most mundane of us seekers, and giving usas much latitude or as many concessions as could possibly be given, while wemature and evolve as aspirants.

The section involving slokas 10,11 grades bhaktas into sakaama bhaktas andnishkama bhaktas.Those who are the devoted to the Lord for some gain, and those who are devotedto the Lord with no motive. The latter or Parabhaktas or Jnanis or Gunateetasand for them the devotion is as spontaneous as any other bodily function, andthese "devotees" the Lord terms as the ones most dear to him.tulya-ninda-stutir mauni santusto yena kenacit aniketah sthira-matir bhaktimanme priyo narah

Those individuals who are not parabhaktas and are endowed with bhakti with amotive, there are again two grades - motives being materialistic, and motivesbeing spiritual.

When the motive is spiritual - to achieve sadhanachatushtaya sampatti - thensuch a devotee is a jijnasu. He does not care for any material wealth - hisoverwhelming aim is spiritual growth, and a desire for "self"-knowledge or adesire for one-ness with the Supreme Self - Ishwara - and as we know - they bothamount to the same thing.

When the motive is materialistic that too the Lord accepts as a valid bhakti -it results in a build-up of faith that hopefully will evolve into the two higherforms of bhakti.

If thou art unable to practise even this Abhyasa Yoga, be thou intent on doingactions for My sake; even by doing actions for My sake, thou shalt attainperfection.

If thou art unable to do even this, then, resorting to union with Me, renouncethe fruits of all actions with the self controlled.

The issue of nitya-naimittika karmas in today's day and age can be replaced bythe concept of looking at one's work as one's duty.Let us take an example of a teacher.

Now Ishwara has imparted to him or her skills that enable this person toimpart education to some young minds in his school.His duty is to do the best job he possibly can.

So what the Lord means by saying do works for my sake is this:Recognize that you are in this place in time by His Grace. Whatever you do isfor His sake alone. Do your best - be the best you can be. Do not be slack inyour work. Do not be disinterested in your work. Do not be neglectful of yourwork. Why? Not because you want a promotion, not because you want to win thebest teacher award at the annual ceremony, not because you want a monetaryreward from a rich child's parent, but because you are doing this to please theLord of All. This action of yours, this role that you are playing - you willplay because this is what is your best way thank Him for all that He hasequipped you with, and endowed you with.And this can be of true of ANY job. Each one of us is engaged in somethingwhere we are contributing our bit to society, to the Order. And in return we arerewarded with certain comforts and rewards we ought not to take for granted. Itis His Grace alone that has given us some mediocre abilities to do certainthings that soceity values or requires and repays us accordingly. It is my dutythat I do with diligence as my token of appreciation to the Lord this action.

This then is what is meant by "do actions for My sake" What is the benefit ofthis frame of mind? The benefit is mani-fold.The most important benefit for me as a jijnasu is antahkaranashuddhi - my minddoes not entertain too many conflicts. If my work is appreciated it is OK, if itis not, then that is also OK. If I make a profit or not, I am concerned not withanything else other than doing the best job I can and devoting it to my dearIshwara.

The next benefit is - I become a more efficient worker - "yogah karmasukausalam". By removing my mind about unnecessary anxieties and worries about mywork I focus on the job at hand. My entire mind-intellect-body is fully attunedto and fixedly converged on the job at hand. If i am sachin tendulkar, i am notworried about how i have failed two matches in a row, or how much endorsementmoney i can make if i make a century, or whether they will make me captain if isucceed or anything else - my entire inner equipment is directed at this momentsimply at facing the ball and scoring the run. Because my aim is to do this as atoken of offering.

The third benefit is as my sense of kartrtvam decreases, so does my sense ofbhoktrtvam.

Now let us say I at the stage of maturity and development I now am in, I amnot able to do this. Yes, it is all very nice to say that I want to do this workfor Ishwara's sake, but if my boss does not give me a raise this year, I amgoing to get angry. If someone else gets promoted I am going to be in aunpleasant frame of mind. I am doing this job, because i want to make a lot ofmoney, be able to afford good cars, a palatial house, good education for mychildren, etc etc. For this level of a seeker, Bhagwan Krishna comes down onenotch further. He says "OK, no problem. Just do me a favor(!), whatever you gainwith your desire-prompted actions, accept it not as a result of your actions,but as my Grace!!" - How inclusive is this philosophy!!! In other words, develop"prasadha-buddhi".At the time I engaged in a particular transaction, of course it was self-ishlymotivated - i did it to gain something materialistic - but now that i haveobtained the result - let me look at the result not as a result of myaccomplishment, but as a "gift" from the Lord.

Before I would pat myself on the back when i made money and puff up with prideand arrogance, now i touch it to my eyes and say "O Lord, this is nothing butYour Grace, and I accept it humbly as your child." just as a baby would lovinglyaccept something from his mother.

How does this help? It makes me a accepting person. And a accepting mind is amore mature mind, a mind less in conflict, a mind less in turmoil, and such amind lends itself to spiritual growth, to enquiry, to meditation, etc.

It is important to also note that while prasadabuddhi is useful when we gainsomething good, it also is useful when the result is a loss, or worse we gainsomething bad.In that case also, relinquishing "ownership" of the fruits of our action, andaccepting the result as the Lord's offering, helps us accomodate and accept - idid what i did with such-and-such in mind, but this is what i got, this is whatwas the result. Such is His Will, and I accept it knowing that this being Hisprasada is what is in my benefit. I may not be able to see it or recognize itnow, but in someways known only to Him, this will help me grow as a person, as aindividual."

What if I cannot do that also? Then, as Swami Paramarthananda-ji would say sonicely, all that even Bhagawan can say is "best of luck in the next humanjanma!"